Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuwait City: Former winners and last year’s beaten finalists Kuwait Sports Club edged out domestic rivals Al Qadsia 3-1 on penalties to advance to the AFC Cup quarter-finals for a second consecutive season following a 1-1 draw at Mohammed Al Hamad Stadium on Tuesday.
Al Qadsia, who recently secured a fourth straight Kuwait Premier League title ahead of Kuwait SC, had taken the lead after 13 minutes through Syrian striker Omar Al Soma only for Rogerio de Assis to pull the 2009 champions level on the hour mark.
And in the shootout, Bader Al Mutawa, Hussain Fadhe and Fahed Al Ebrahim all missed for Al Qadsia, while Husain Hakim, Fahad Awad and Jarah Al Ateeqi were all successful for Kuwait SC.
"We deserved to win today as we played with our own style and we were the better side in the game,” said Kuwait SC coach Mohammad Abdullah.
“We had a plan to stop the key players of Al Qadsia and we successfully won in the penalty shootout because we were calm.
"It is a great honour to represent Kuwait in the competition and it is really a shame to have Al Qadsia out but this is football and there should be only one winner in the knockout stage matches."
Group C runners-up Kuwait SC made an encouraging start as Brazilian striker De Assis narrowly failed to find the target after just 10 minutes.
But just three minutes later Group A winners Al Qadsia took the lead as Al Soma headed Khaled Naser’s cross past Kuwait SC goalkeeper Musab Al Kandari.
De Assis thought he had pulled Kuwait SC level seven minutes into the second half, but the Brazilian’s effort was ruled out for offside.
But just eight minutes later De Assis crucially netted his fourth goal of the tournament as the Brazilian headed home Abdulhadi Khamis’ cross.
And Al Qadsia’s task was made significantly harder in the third minute of extra-time as Mesaed Nada was sent-off after picking up a second yellow card.
But after 120 minutes failed to separate the two domestic rivals, Al Qadsia made the ideal start to the shootout as goalkeeper Nawaf Al Khaldi saved Husain Baba’s spot kick.
Al Qadsia, though, failed to capitalise as Al Kandari denied Al Mutawa and Hakim netted to edge Kuwait SC ahead.
Fadhel blazed over the crossbar before Awad scored to double Kuwait SC’s lead, only for Dhary Saeed to finally convert for Al Qadsia.
But after Al Ateeqi netted Kuwait SC’s third out of four, Al Ebrahim hit the crossbar to end Al Qadsia’s AFC Cup bid.
"We controlled the early minutes of the game and had we scored from the chances that we made, we could have won the match without going into extra time and the penalty shootout," said Al Qadsia coach Rodion Gacanin.
"The players were really tired and we were affected by the absence of Firas Al Khatib and Bader Al Motawaa in the attack. We tried our best to play with an attacking mind in extra-time but the sending-off of Mesaed Nada affected us and we were not lucky in the penalty shootout."